Northbound I-5 Set to Close Overnight in Central O.C.

July 29, 2019

The Aug. 2 and 3 freeway closures are required to demolish the I-5/Main Street carpool bridge as part of the I-5 Central County Improvements Project

ORANGE – Northbound I-5 between SR-55 and SR-22 is scheduled to close overnight from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 2, and again from 11 p.m. to 9 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 3 as part of the I-5 Central County Improvements Project.

The closures are necessary to demolish the I-5/Main Street carpool bridge, which permanently closed to traffic in April. The bridge is being demolished to make room for a second carpool lane that will be added to I-5 between SR-55 and SR-57 as part of the project.

In addition to the freeway closure, Main Street between Santa Clara Avenue and MainPlace Drive is expected to close overnight on Friday, and the SR-55 connectors and SR-57 carpool connector to I-5 are expected to close both nights. There also will be a 36-hour closure of the northbound I-5 Main Street on-ramp and Broadway off-ramp, extending from 10 p.m. Friday to 10 a.m. Sunday.

Southbound I-5 carpool lane and left two regular lanes between Gene Autry Way and Main Street (midnight to 10 a.m.)

Detours will be in place to guide drivers around the closures. Up-to-date closure and detour information is available on the project’s interactive map at www.octa.net/i5centralmap.

The I-5 Central County Improvements Project will help speed up commutes and alleviate traffic on I-5 in Santa Ana, Orange and Tustin, an area traveled by 380,000 drivers every day. Traffic on that stretch of I-5 is expected to climb to more than 400,000 vehicles a day by 2035.

In addition to adding a second carpool lane in each direction between SR-55 and SR-57, the project will remove the concrete barriers between the carpool and regular lanes, and the carpool lanes will be striped for continuous access, allowing drivers to move freely between the carpool and regular lanes.

The $41.5 million project is funded with federal dollars and by Measure M, also known as OC Go, Orange County’s half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements. Construction is expected to be completed in early 2021.